As I write this, I'm sitting in the hotel in Burlington, VT. We got here yesterday afternoon. The rest of my time in White River Junction was alright. Wednesday, I was alone for the entire day so I had to entertain myself. I got up and actually had breakfast. The hotel didn't have room service but instead had a free breakfast buffet. Afterwards, I took the car and drove around White River for a while and came across many scenic areas including the Connecticut River. Then I drove to Hanover, NH and tooled around Dartmouth College. Dartmouth reminded me a lot of where I went to school for three years, Ohio University. It was very quaint and charming.
Here's a funny story. I walked into the student union just to check it out. I walked into a room where there were a couple of guys trying to register students to vote. One of the guys looked familiar. Turns out, it was actor Justin Long! So, Justin is that guy in those Mac and PC commercials. He also used to date Drew Barrymore. He's sorta famous. Like if you saw him, you'd be like, "Oh, that guy." Anyway, he asked me if I was registered to vote and I said yes (albeit in the state of Illinois). I was so stunned to see him there. Even in a small New England town, Hollywood seemed to find me. I left soon after but then kicked myself for not at least trying to get a photo with him. Then again, it would've been weird to explain how not only I didn't go to school there but I also wasn't from NH. That was pretty much my excitement for the day.
Thursday we had to check out of the hotel. While the boyfriend was at work for a couple of hours, I wandered around downtown White River. There wasn't much there. We ate lunch at a great cafe called Tip Top Cafe and then drove up to Burlington, an hour and half away. Along the way, we stopped at the Ben and Jerry's factory and did a brief tour which entailed getting a free ice cream sample at the end. When in Rome, I suppose. The weather had been great up until yesterday when it was rainy much of the day. The drive up to Burlington consisted of a lot of mist coming off the mountains. We got to Burlington and checked into the hotel overlooking Lake Champlain. We wandered around downtown Burlington full of shops and restaurants. There's more civilization in Burlington than White River, but I found the latter to be a better place. Plus our hotel didn't have free breakfast or Wi-fi.
Every restaurant we've been to in Burlington offers crab cakes, good VT beer, authentic New England clam chowder, onion soup and VT cheese. I hate to say this, but I might be crabcaked out by the end of the trip. After lunch today, we took a ferry to New York! The Adirondack mountains are just a 20 minute ferry ride across the lake. We took the car and everything. It was a bit chilly out today but at least the sun was out. So, I've been to three states in the past few days. Montreal is only about 70 miles from Essex, NY, but there just wasn't enough time to go there. Along the freeway, you see signs written in French. Plus we didn't have our passports on us. We tooled around the area which was mainly just pretty houses and trees. It was sorta sad being there during the off-season. I kept trying to imagine what the place is like during the summer months when everyone is on the water. I'd like to come back during the summer and vacation there. After a couple of hours, we took the ferry back and went out to dinner at a great cafe outside Burlington. Then we came back to the hotel and used the pool and hot tub. Yes, there is a hot tub.
Tomorrow we have to check out and drive 3 hours back to the NH airport. Hopefully along the way, we can stop at a farm and pick some apples or something. I've really enjoyed my time in NE and will really miss it. One observation I made, and this may sound racist, is there isn't a lot of ethnicity in VT or NE. Seriously. It's just a bunch of rich or hippied white people. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm not use to it. There's also not a lot of traffic in NE. In fact, we never hit any which was nice.
I should be back in Chicago tomorrow night. On Monday, I start a two week temp job in the 'burbs. I'm not looking forward to the long commute everyday. I don't really want to work, but I kinda need the cash for car insurance and other bills. Hopefully I will make enough and not have to work for a little while. I also have some writing deadlines coming up as always. I'd rather not think about all that crap right now.
More on my trip and photos soon.
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